


You've got a friend in me

by Side_effect_of_the_meds



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Polyamory, Polyfidelity, Post-Canon, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:46:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23423413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Side_effect_of_the_meds/pseuds/Side_effect_of_the_meds
Summary: With the girls gone, Matt manages to find friends in the most unlikeliest of placesApril 14, 2020 Update: Chapter two has been deleted. I wasn't too happy with it when I'd first published it and am really upset with myself for putting it out before it was ready. I'll be redoing and reposting the second chapter... eventually. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Relationships: Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Andrew Minyard & Renee Walker, Kevin Day & Neil Josten, Matt Boyd & Aaron Minyard, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Matt Boyd/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Nicky Hemmick & Aaron Minyard, Nicky Hemmick & Andrew Minyard
Comments: 7
Kudos: 94





	1. Up in smoke

There was one reason and one reason only that Matt was returning to Palmetto for his fifth year and its name was Neil Josten. Last year had been the girls’ last. A wave of nausea washed over Matt as he pulled into a parking space close to the dorms. A sleek black Maserati stood only a few spaces over. This was it. Matt was going to be alone with the Monsters. Sure, he’d spent the last year and a half sharing a room with Aaron and Nicky but he’d always had the girls to fall back on when the going got tough. 

It wasn’t that they fought a lot. Most of the Monsters’ issues had been smoothed over with the help of Bee but Aaron still hated Neil. There was nothing Aaron could do about him though. When the twins’ tempers had come to a head, Andrew had picked Neil. Tensions had been high since Andrew’s betrayal of his brother. 

“Don’t call it that,” Neil said with a grimace. “All Andrew’s ever done is put his family’s needs over his own. Andrew didn’t pick me over Aaron. He chose to let himself want and, if you know Andrew, that's something he hasn’t done in the last six years.” Neil had paused then. Matt watched as he darted a glance out at the court. Immediately Neil’s vision honed in on the goalie box. His shoulders sagged and a small smile tugged at his lips. “I hope that you’ll get to meet him one day. You and Drew would get on like a wildfire.” Cutting the engine, Matt let his head drop onto the steering wheel. 

“Mourning Danny girl already?” a voice asked. Matt jerked his head up to see Andrew standing out in front of the dorms. Cigarette smoke curled up in tendrils, obscuring his face. It didn’t matter. Matt knew he’d just be staring blankly at him. Even without the cigarette, blank expression, or even the trademark black bands, Matt would have known it was the Monster. Unlike Aaron, Andrew’s southern accent was faked. Where Aaron drew out his ‘e’s’ and ‘r’s, Andrew had opted for a more of a southern drawl than his brother’s natural twang. 

Matt hadn’t noticed until recently, however, but it was fairly easy to know when something was starting to get under Andrew’s skin. It wasn’t often that he lost his temper anymore but on days that Kevin and the younger foxes started to push his buttons just a little too far, his accent would slip. When the crispness returned to Andrew’s syllables, Matt knew to book it. 

It was an odd distinction to draw between the brothers and no one else seemed to notice. Except Neil. Neil noticed everything about Andrew. Matt took a deep breath before stepping out of his truck. 

“Where’s Neil?” Matt asked. “He said he’d help me move in.”

“Not here,” Andrew replied. 

“No shit,” Matt snapped. “Why are you here, though?” 

“I’ve come in his place.” Matt’s whole body tensed. “I’m not going to drop your shit on you. Josten and Day would have my head if I killed their best backliner. Guess you're safe for the year Boyd.” With that, Andrew pushed off the wall and made his way towards the truck. Stepping out of the cab, Matt shot weary looks at the monster while he unhooked the bungee cords holding his things in place. Together, Matt and Andrew hefted his couch, tv, entertainment center, and coffee table out from the bed of the truck and up three flights of stairs to the dorms. It was slow going but it wasn’t nearly as much strain. For a moment, Matt thought he’d gotten stronger. Glancing down the stairwell squashed the little sprout of hope that had bloomed in his chest. A thin sheen of sweat coated Andrew’s muscles, flexing hard beneath the weight of Matt’s couch. “If you’ve got time to stand around and gawk at me, then you’re not working hard enough, Boyd,” he snarled. 

“I wasn’t staring,” Matt grumbled. After that, he made sure to keep his focus solely on the task at hand. Nearly an hour later, Boyd flopped down on the couch. He watched in silence as Andrew rooted through the mini-fridge. Pulling out two beers, Andrew chucked one right at Matt’s face. He barely managed to get his hands up in time to catch it. “Thanks,” Matt mumbled. He hoped that would be the end of it. It wasn’t. Dread welled up in him at the sight of Andrew taking a seat atop the entertainment center. Silence settled over them. Matt’s heart was hammering so hard, he was sure Andrew could hear it. 

“Come to Columbia with us.” 

A thousand memories surged up in Matt’s mind at the name alone. “Hell. No.” 

“Neil’ll be there to protect you,” Andrew drawled. “With the girls gone-” 

“The fuck do you not understand about no?” Matt snapped, cutting him off. Immediately, Andrew tensed and Matt realized his mistake. “Hey, man. I didn’t mean-”

“Forget it,” Andrew said. His accent dropped and Matt’s blood ran cold. He sat frozen as Andrew stood and walked out. The slam of the door broke Matt’s paralysis.  _ What have I done?  _ he thought to himself, letting his eyes fall shut. He sat there for a few seconds, minutes, hours before the door opened again. 

“Hey, Matt!” Nicky called, bounding into the room. Aaron followed a good distance behind. “Do you mind giving some of the new kids a ride down to the stadium? Coach says he needs all of us down there in the next half an hour.” Dragging himself off the couch, Matt grabbed his keys from off the coffee table. Nicky kept up a constant stream of chatter as they made their way down to the parking lot. Two girls stood waiting in front of Matt’s truck. Sparing a glance down the lot, Matt saw Andrew sitting on the trunk of the Maserati. Neil stood in front of him, between his legs. Matt watched as Neil lit the end of his cigarette with the cherry of Andrew’s. A bright smile flared to life on Neil’s face. Matt could have sworn that a little of the tension dropped from Andrew’s shoulders at the sight of it. 

After a quick introduction from the two of them, Matt helped the two of them into the cab of his truck before setting off for the stadium. Most days, he’d have to make an effort to hold a conversation with the kids but Jasmine filled the silence just as well as Nicky did. There wasn’t much room for Robin to talk but she didn’t seem to have much to say anyway. 

Over the course of the twenty-minute drive, Matt learned enough information about Jasmine to fill an entire encyclopedia. Cutting the engine, he let the girls get out before him. The Maserati was already parked, as was Jack’s Nissan.  _ Fuck. _ Matt had been so concerned about the Monsters that he’d forgotten entirely about Jack, Oliver, and Sheena. Assholes, the lot of them. Once Matt had mustered the strength to get out of the car, he slid out and followed the girls. Robin punched the code in and they let themselves in. 

The couches had been rearranged again. There were three three-seaters and two single chairs set up around the entertainment center. The Dream Team took up one of the couches, framed neatly by Aaron and Nicky. Jack and his lot had taken another, leaving Matt and the girls with the last couch. 

They took their seats just as Wymack stepped out of his office. Matt paid little attention as he gave his usual beginning of the year spiel. There was a marked lack of mention of Evermore that Matt couldn’t help but smile at. They’d defeated the long-ruling Ravens two years ago and they were nowhere near making a comeback. Palmetto had made it to semi’s last year before infighting amongst the defense brought them down. Matt was determined not to let that happen again this year, not with Neil as captain. 

Neil didn’t give a speech, instead waving the kids off to Abby for their physicals. Neil was a man of few words, not as few as Andrew, but he chose to dispense his wisdom sparingly and with a side of venom. At the demand of Wymack, Andrew went first. With him gone Neil finally turned his attention to Matt. 

“I thought you said you’d text me when you got here?” Neil asked. 

“Andrew said you were busy,” Matt said, a frown creasing his brow. A matching one bloomed across Neil’s features. 

“I’ve been in my room for the last few hours.” That was when it hit Matt. Andrew had lied.  _ No, he didn’t,  _ a voice in the back of his head piped up.  _ You assumed Neil was busy.  _ But that meant that Andrew had  **chosen** to help Matt. He’d wanted to talk to him. Whatever it was had to have been important for him to have gone out of his way like that. And Matt had fucked it all up. 


	2. Feel for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil struggles to hold the team together and all Matt wants is for him to be happy

Summer practice began right where they’d left off. Jack, Sheena, and Oliver were the same little shits they were last year. Kevin was still an ass and Nicky was still trying to paper over the cracks in the team with cheery chatter. With Dan and the girls long gone, Matt was beginning to worry. Would Neil really be able to hold it together on his own? It didn’t help that Aaron was Vice now. Despite being the first to come forth supporting Neil’s decision, Matt was still struggling to wrap his head around Neil's choice as his second in command. At the time, he’d had faith that Neil knew what he was doing. Now, he wasn’t quite so sure. Aaron stood on his side of the court, watching the mayhem unfold. 

“You could help him,” Matt hissed. 

“You could ram that Exy stick up your ass,” he countered, breezily. Sometimes, Aaron was far worse than his brother. This was one of those. When the decision had been announced, there’d been chaos in the Foxhole Court. 

Aaron hated Neil with the passion of a thousand suns. A weird sort of tension had settled over them since the announcement. Or over Aaron at least. Neil, for his part, didn’t seem to give a damn. No matter how many barbs and insults Aaron lobbed at him, Neil never dignified him with a response. That alone had piqued Matt’s interest. For someone who delighted in the twists and turns of his own toxic tongue, Neil was oddly restrained around Aaron. At some point, Matt began to notice a correlation between the number of hickeys decorating Andrew and the number of jibes his brother made at Neil. It seemed that Aaron did too. 

“And I thought Andrew was evil,” Matt had remarked in awe of Neil’s devious little ploy. A truly wicked smile had curled his lip then. His bright blue eyes sparked with mischief dancing across his whole face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Matt,” he’d replied coolly. 

“You’re terrible, Neil,” Matt had said as a smile tore his own face open. 

“Thanks.” He’d run off then, slipping his hand easily into Andrew’s. Andrew had laced their fingers together immediately. It occurred, seemingly, without a thought, as natural as breathing. It was as though they’d been made for each other. 

While Matt had made his peace with Neil’s new man, the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the upperclassmen. None of the girls seemed too pleased by Neil’s relationship. Even Renee had expressed mild amounts of concern over the pair. But it wasn’t Neil she’d been worried about. 

“Andrew is far more fragile than you’d think,” she told Matt over milkshakes at the diner. Matt snorted. 

“That man’s built like a brick house,” Matt replied. “He’s also the crabbiest little shit I’ve ever met.”

“Crabby!” Renee’s eyes lit up. “That’s what Andrew is: a crab.” Matt’s brows furrowed.

“Ren, I really hate to say this, but I really think you’ve gone off the deep end this time.” Irritation flashed across her face and Matt recoiled instantly. It was rare for Renee to display negative emotions. In fact, there was very little you could say to Renee that could upset her. However, even a passing jibe at Andrew inspired visceral hate in her. 

“Crabs are incredibly tough on the outside. Not only do they have the armor of their shells but they have claws to defend them. Many people see crabs at the beach and get scared even if they haven’t done anything. Most of what crabs do is posturing. They stand around looking tough but when something attacks their homes or their families, they attack. If you haven’t noticed, Andrew never acts. He reacts.”

“What do you mean?” 

“When Tilda refused to stop hurting Aaron, he disposed of her.”  _ Disposed.  _ The word sent a shudder down Matt’s spine. For a woman who believed that all life had value, she didn’t seem to have any problem dismissing the value of the twins’ mother. Renee continued, “When those men jumped Nicky, Andrew defended his cousin. When Neil came home from Evermore, you hit Kevin. Andrew hit you in retaliation. When Allison hit Aaron, a boy who’s spent his whole life being abused by women, Andrew fought back.” Matt opened his mouth and shut it. He tried again and again to find something,  _ anything _ , to refute Renee but came up empty. She was right. Every one of Andrew’s outbursts had been a reaction to something someone had done to his family. But if so didn’t that make Matt and the girls… “No, Matt,” Renee said as she caught hold of his chin. She held it until he met her gaze. “It doesn’t make you the monster. It just means that Andrew isn’t one either.” 

Turning towards the goal, Matt saw Andrew sitting cross-legged in his goal. He’d taken his helmet off and was leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed.  _ Alone in his cage.  _ Now that Matt thought about it, if Andrew wasn’t with Neil, he was alone. Always alone. It didn’t matter that Nicky and Aaron were by his side. The rift between the cousins had begun to heal but there were too many unmended cracks in each of them individually for things to work. 

That was how Dan and Matt had been. Looking back, Matt saw the faults in their methods. Rather than facing his problems head-on, Matt had hidden behind Dan and hoped that she’d fix him. Seeing him come to her on his knees the way he did, she’d agreed. It had been something like the Bad Boy phenomena. Women liked to think that they could ‘fix’ broken men. It was the reason his mom had fallen for his dad and the reason Allison let Seth come crawling back. Dan had thought that the power of their love would be enough to stop Matt from slipping back into old habits. It wasn’t. 

When push came to shove, the temptation was always too much for him. Their frustration built up at Matt’s apparent lack of improvement, eating away at his own determination. The summer before his second year, Matt gave up entirely. What was the point? He’d never been good enough for her anyway. Reminding himself off it, he’d let himself have at everything Andrew offered him. 

“Pathetic.” The word still echoed through Matt’s head today, laced with every ounce of disgust Andrew had failed to conceal. “What would your mother say if she saw you like this, Matty? Guess you’ll just have to hope you’ll get the chance to ask her in the next life. Good luck with that.” Andrew had turned on his heel then and dragged his brother away. They’d left him there, choking on his own vomit in the bathroom. By some miracle, Matt had managed to survive the night. He’d woken the next morning and dragged himself out only to find Andrew sitting atop the bar. “Mornin, sunshine,” he’d called with a dopey grin. 

“Fuck you,” Matt hissed. 

“Maybe some other time,” Andrew answered, breezily before hopping off the counter. “Right now it’s time to get you home so Danny girl can patch you up.” Matt hadn’t had much of a choice in the matter seeing as he barely had the strength to stand. Nicky and Kevin had hurled him into the backseat and they’d driven straight back to Palmetto. Dumping him on Dan’s step, they disappeared back into their own room. 

It was then, laying on his back on Dan’s couch that he finally figured it out. Dan wasn’t the solution to his problems. If Matt wanted to get better, he had to be his own answer. With that in mind, he’d managed to struggle through the year completely sober. Every passing day cleared his system a little more. It wasn’t until a few months in until Matt realized all the things he’d been missing. So caught up in chasing the high of his drugs, he’d grown numb to the small victories of day to day life. Adrenaline rushes came with silly things like beating Seth up the stairs and making Dan laugh. It felt so good just to feel again. 

How strange it was that Matt had learned how to feel from a man who felt nothing at all. No, that wasn’t right. Andrew did feel. Things like annoyance and anger were obvious but there was far more to Andrew than he’d thought. Rare as they were, Matt had seen glimmers of things like eagerness and pride sparking in his eyes. At times like those, it wasn’t hard to see why Neil loved him so much. 

“Matt,” Neil called, shaking him. The exasperation in his tone implied that it wasn’t the first time he’d called him. “I called for a break almost five minutes ago. 

“No way,” he replied. 

“Yes way. Walk with me?” Matt followed Neil off the court and they began a slow jog around the perimeter. “You’re questioning my choice in Vice.”

“I did not say that,” Matt said. 

“It’s the things left unsaid that are the loudest,” Neil replied. Matt snorted. 

“That sounds like a load of horse crap and you know it.” Neil smiled, shoving him away. 

“Maybe so but you know what I mean. Look at them,” he said gesturing at the court. To Matt’s surprise, it wasn’t empty. Both Aaron and Oliver were still there, messing around amid drill sets. “They went to high school together and stayed in touch after Aaron left.” 

“What does this have to do with him being Vice?” 

“Oliver practically worships the ground Aaron walks on. He’d follow him off the edge of the first if he asked him too. And where Oliver goes, Jack and Sheena do too. Jasmine seems to have fallen in with them and Andrew’s taken a bit of a shine to Robin.”

“Even if Aaron gets half the team under control, how are you going to get his half to work with yours?” 

“There is nothing Aaron won’t do for his brother,” Neil replied, matter of factly. “As long as Andrew and I are on the same side, Aaron and the rest of the team will be too.” 

“And you’ve got Andrew wrapped around your little finger.” 

“Don’t say that,” Neil said, a furrow forming between his brows. Matt reached out and rubbed it away just as Dan had done to him a thousand times. “We have an understanding.”

“That understanding is if he doesn’t do what he’s told, he’s not getting his dick sucked.” 

“This has nothing to do with sex,” Neil snapped. “I’m going to be Court and I want Andrew to be there with me.” There was a wistfulness about his expression that made Matt’s chest ache. Neil didn’t want the fame or the fortune. He just wanted to play Exy with Andrew by his side.

“What do you need from me?” Matt asked.

“I need the upperclassmen to present a united front.” Matt felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He knew exactly where this conversation was headed. “Come to Columbia, Matt. For me.” 

“Okay,” he whispered, defeated. A massive smile broke out across Neil’s face. It took every ounce of strength Matt had to muster up one of his own. The hug Neil gave him was worth every bit of it. Matt had never heard Andrew tell Neil 'no'. Whatever Neil wanted, Andrew gave. Matt suddenly understood why. 


End file.
